When worlds collide.
I had mentioned in my previous post about worlds about how worldscollide, like when I took Tad to Peaberry Cafe last Sunday to meetRonelli.
Ronelli had been a friend of mine from Trumpets Playshop Alabang'sfirst musical theater class under Tita Menchu. It was the firstacting/musical theater workshop I had ever taken. I was onlycomfortable in class because I had friends there. Other than that, Iwas quiet as a mouse. I had too many inhibitions that I was afraid thatI might do all the exercises wrong. Part of the reason was that I knewall of us weren't in the same "skill level," as some of them hadalready done this before, even professionally. I was even careful aboutthe way I moved and talked. But hey, I did make a lot of friendsthrough that workshop. Good friends, though not as close, save for acouple of them. I even put Putting It Together (our showcase) and the class' bond on a high pedestal even after thefew workshops after that. Sure, we bonded, but I felt as if there werestill walls separating some of us because of certain differences. Justa feeling. It would sometimes seem as if there was something's wrongwith the way that girl stared, or how that guy spoke.
Fast forward to several years later. I started from scratch andattended a beginning acting workshop under Tanghalang Pilipino. Again,I was sort of comfortable at first only because I had a couple offriends enrolled in the same class. During the first couple of days, Iput up a wall because I was still used to the Playshop environment. Butday by day, the wall came down. I realized that all of us were on thesame playing field, just there want to learn, and just have a go at it.I was no longer afraid to try anything. My eagerness and enthusiasmremoved my inhibitions. I stopped listening to people's accents becauseto them, I was the one with the weird accent (hahaha, Mimay and Niccocan attest to this, because they did this often). This was a class thathad no pre-judgments over you, or wherever you came from, as long asyou knew how to get along with different people, wear your heart onyour sleeve, and give it all you've got. So we have the passion. Wealso had that crazy bond, the type that you can never get sick of eachother. Our crazy glue? The girl with the amazing voice and upbeatpersonality who played my alter ego, and the guy with so much passionin his bones and loves his friends til the end.
Two workshops that were so different from each other.
When Ronelli, a former classmate from Trumpets Playshop, and Tad, myboyfriend from Tanghalang Pilipino, met at Peaberry last Sunday, I hadno idea if they had anything in common. Ronelli talked the way shealways did, straight English with a slight accent. Tad was merely beinghimself and compromised, and didn't mind stumbling over the occasionalEnglish words. I was actually amused at the fact that it was the firsttime I heard Ronelli say anything in Filipino. When we started talkingabout coffee drinking, coffee routines, and the different kinds ofcoffee, the "language barrier" disappeared.
I have yet to invite Ronelli to a TP show. Hopefully when Flores Para Los Muertos does a rerun, I'll invite her to come. She did say that she hasn't seena play in ages. And I have to check out Peaberry's acoustic nights.Maybe I could get Tad to sing during one of those nights, hehehe. Andwho knows, maybe Ronelli can overcome her "singing trauma" as well,even if I have to hold the microphone for her, hahaha.
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